Extreme Networks has been ordered to pay more than $900,000 after admitting to having supplied networking equipment to a Russian defense contractor behind air defense systems deployed in Ukraine.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, staff at Extreme’s former Russian subsidiary concealed the identity of Moscow Machinery Building Plant Avangard (MMZA) – which supplies S-400 air defense missile systems to the Russian army. The subterfuge let staff smuggle networking equipment from under the nose of its parent company, while Extreme earned about $487,860.92 in revenue from the sales.

Extreme Networks Rus LLC was found to have fulfilled 11 purchase orders to MMZA between March 2018 and March 2022. The defense contractor’s parent was subject to sanctions under the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.

The DOJ confirmed Extreme entered into a non-prosecution agreement, with the vendor agreeing to pay penalties totaling $975,721.84 to resolve sanctions and export control offenses.

The vendor did, however, avoid full prosecution as the case met the threshold for a “near-miss,” given Extreme provided both “full cooperation and appropriate remediation.” Although Extreme voluntarily disclosed the illegal exports through a self-disclosure policy, the DOJ noted it occurred “under imminent threat” of exposure by a news publication.

The DOJ confirmed Extreme has since terminated its contract with the third-party distributor used to facilitate the sales, while also improving screening procedures and bolstering compliance and diligence procedures.

Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, said the agreement “mark[s] the successful resolution of our investigation into the illegal sale of advanced networking equipment and services to a Russian weapons manufacturer, in clear violation of U.S. sanctions and export controls.”

“The FBI remains dedicated to keeping sensitive technology out of the hands of the Russian military, and we're grateful to Homeland Security Investigations and the Bureau of Industry and Security for their partnership on this case,” Rozhavsky added. "Let this announcement serve as a clear warning: if you attempt to arm our adversaries by violating U.S. law, justice will find you.”

The S-400 missile system developed by the company Extreme inadvertently sold equipment to has seen rampant use across Ukraine and was used to shoot down Oleksandr Oksanchenko, the legendary Ukrainian fighter pilot nicknamed the Grey Wolf, over the skies of Kyiv. The very same anti-air missile systems have been sold by Russia to China, India, and Belarus.